Maccabi Tel Aviv were blown out by Monaco 107-79 in a one-sided affair in the Principality. Mike James was all over the court early on for the hosts to open up a commanding 52-38 lead at halftime and never look back as the yellow-and-blue had no answers throughout the 40 minutes for Sasa Obradovic’s squad in a rematch of last season’s quarterfinal series. With the loss, Maccabi’s record dropped to .500, 2-2 on the season as Oded Katash’s side will now ready for a date at Milano on Tuesday in Italy.

Antonius Cleveland and Lorenzo Brown scored 14 points while Roman Sorkin and Josh Nebo scored 10 points a piece in the loss. Mike James led the way with 24 points, Alpha Diallo added 18 points and Elie Okobo chipped in with 17 points in the win.

“I think we lost the game the way we approached this game,“ Katash said. “We were not aggressive and not even close, this was not our level. You can lose games but not in this way. Nothing was there, not the energy, we are better than that, both sides, something happened. We need to sit all together and talk about it and make sure this won’t happen again.”

Yakuba Ouattara and Mike James dialled up long distance to get Monaco off to a solid start Lorenzo Brown from the outside and inside and Bonzie Colson responded for Maccabi Tel Aviv as the hosts held an 11-9 lead midway through the first quarter. James kept scoring at will, Jaron Blossomgame scored from deep and then dunked while Donta Hall also put on an aerial display as Antonius Cleveland with a pair of buckets kept the visitors close but down 28-23 after ten minutes of play.

Elie Okobo opened up the second quarter with a deuce and a triple, Kemba Walker chalked up his first bucket of the game and James continued to score to give Sasa Obradovic’s team a 40-27 lead with five minutes left in the first half. Josh Nebo tried to stop the Monaco run, Ouattara and James quickly scored, Roman Sorkin and Cleveland answered right back but a John Brown bucket at the end of the frame hands Monaco a 52-38 advantage at halftime.

James got the this quarter off to a roaring start with a bucket from deep, Alpha Diallo added a 3-point play while James drilled home yet another triple and a deuce to give the hosts a commanding 67-40 lead midway through the period. Nebo and Okobo traded buckets, Kemba Walker worked his magic as Cleveland tried to vain to keep Maccabi in the game as Monaco held an 85-57 lead after thirty minutes action.

Okobo and James Webb went back and forth to begin the fourth quarter proceedings while Jasiel Rivero and Brown did the same to keep Monaco in front 94-63 with 5:16 remanning in the frame. Maccabi coach Oded Katash emptied the bench as 17-year old Omer Mayer came on for the final minutes of the game which saw the yellow & blue fall by 28-points.